


Memento

by Auntiope



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Chlodine Week 2018, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 07:17:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15746943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auntiope/pseuds/Auntiope
Summary: Chloe is not impressed by Nadine's choice in headwear on their quest to find the Gem of Kukulkan.





	Memento

**Author's Note:**

> Made for Chlodine Week 2018 on Tumblr  
> There's not a lot of info in Mayan mythology on the internet, so I had to take creative license with those parts. I'll make the appropriate edits when I track down my central american art and mythology books.

“What is _that_?” Chloe said, twisting her mouth and nose as if she had just eaten a particularly sour lemon.

“What’s what?” Nadine replied, turning around from where she’d been looking in the hotel mirror, adjusting a ball cap on her head.

Chloe snatched the cap and held it up accusingly. “ _This!_ Still repping our old company, are we? You know, the ones who betrayed you and tried to kill us? Several times, I might add?”

Nadine gave her a look and grabbed it back with a smirk, smoothing her hair and replacing the hat. It was hunter green, and well worn, with a sweat stain around the base of the bill. A triangular logo in red, black and white was stitched onto the front.

“I wanted to bring a hat on this one, to keep the sun out of my eyes. It’s just what I had lying around. And besides, it’s still nothing to your ‘red shirt in jungle combat scenario’ faux pas. Which you have not stopped doing, by the way.”

“Hey mate, you’re the one giving Shoreline free advertising space on your forehead. Also, it’s serious bad juju to bring an enemy’s totem on a trip.” Chloe shrugged.

“And you’re the one who brings make-up on treasure hunts. Besides, I don’t believe in ‘juju.’” Nadine added with finger quotes, earning herself a hearty scoff.

“I’ll have you know that the make-up I pack has several uses beyond just being part of a beauty regimen. Years ago I had to dust a keypad for fingerprints with a bit of eye shadow, and yes, it did get me into that safe after only sixteen attempts at twenty-four possible combinations, thank you very much. And mirrors are indispensable in an emergency. As for juju, when you’ve been to places like Shambala, you start looking at mythology and superstition with a lot less sketpicism than you used to.”

“Shambala, sure.” Nadine smiled and let out a breath of surrender. “I suppose we’d _still_ be wandering around the Brazilian rain forest if you hadn’t been able to signal Sully with the reflection. Regardless, I’m still wearing the hat.” She zipped her suitcase closed and shoved her sidearm into its holster at her side as punctuation.

“Fine by me! I still think it’s bad luck. You’ll believe me one day.”

 

“Jump!”

Chloe and Nadine both leapt from the flaming 4x4, which rolled into a truck full of Sergei Bolchov’s goons. They landed in the dense underbrush and rolled to a stop, but as soon as they stood the 4x4 and the transport exploded. The blowback tossed them down a cliff and into the river below.

Chloe and Nadine let the current take them downstream, floating with the feet first so as not to have their heads slammed into any rocks. When the water calmed a bit Nadine led the way over to the shore, and they drug themselves out of the water. Chloe sighed deeply and looked up at where a plume of black smoke rose behind them.

“Another deposit, up in flames.” She turned to Nadine, who to her delight had stripped off her shirt and was wringing it out, “Well, we do have one improvement on our situation thanks to our little dip.”

“Don’t say my abs –” Nadine began, but Chloe cut her off midsentence.

“No, never! Your hat’s flown the coop.”

Nadine rolled her eyes and tossed her dripping shirt over her shoulder. She pulled the tie out of her hair, shook the water out of it, and tied it back up again.

“I was rather preoccupied with not drowning. It’s a hat. I’ll find a new one.”

“Yeah, and try for one without a Shoreline logo next time. Is that a new bra, by the way? I’ve been wanting to switch to a sports bra.” Chloe said airily as she pulled off her shirt as well and twisted it into a knot, shaking the water loose. Drops were flung everywhere, including into Nadine’s face. She passed a hand over her forehead and nose to wipe them away, grimacing and turning red. Chloe draped the shirt over a nearby rock as she wrung out her hair.

“Why don’t you, then?” To stop herself from staring, Nadine put her own still-damp shirt back on with some difficulty in the sticky air. It didn’t keep Chloe from noticing how her gaze lingered.

“Eh, I picked a lock with my underwire once and that’s an advantage I just can’t seem to do without.” She picked up her shirt and replaced it as well, turning to look downriver and fighting to keep a smirk from her face. “Shall we keep moving?”

“Lead the way, Frazer.”

They hiked along the bank of the river for a few miles, ducking into the underbrush whenever the sound of Bolchov’s chopper searching for them came near. Eventually they discovered a game trail that ran parallel to the river and were able to stick to the safety of the trees.

“Eish, you’d think they sell bloody helicopters at the dollar store these days. Why does every two-bit warlord these days have helicopters?” Nadine huffed.

“Beats me, but I’m starting to wonder if I chose the right career. How much do you reckon a helicopter pilot makes, in this economy?” Chloe shielded her eyes to look up into the sky.

“Not nearly enough, if you have to work for an egotistical moron like Bolchov.”

“Bugger. Guess I’ll stick to treasure hunting then!”

 

_Several miles later…_

 

“Are we going the right direction? …You didn’t lose the map in the river, did you?” Nadine said, stopping to lean against a tree and wipe the sweat from her face. The sun’s direct blistering heat didn’t quite reach them down here, instead it was slowly steaming them to death with the humidity.

“Yes, right direction, and yes, I’ve still got it. And for the hat trick,” Chloe paused, breathing hard, “I’ve managed to keep my compass as well. But, hey, let’s do a double check, just for your sanity.” Chloe winked and pulled the topo map out of her back pocket.

She took it to a flat rock sitting halfway in the water and spread it out on the sun-warm surface. The river they were following branched several times, but if they took all the correct forks it would lead them directly to the ruins where their prize waited. Or at least, a clue to the next location. Chloe was just about to point out the next turn they needed to take when something bobbing up and down in an eddy caught her attention.

“Oh _bullshi_ -”

“What? What is it? Are we lost?” Nadine came over to her, placing a hand on her back to brace herself as she looked over Chloe’s shoulder.

“Ha! I wish. No,” Chloe reached down and picked up the soggy hat, handing it up to Nadine. “Your fucking hat followed us.”

Nadine laughed as she took it from Chloe’s hand, and straightened up. Her hand left Chloe’s back to pluck off a few strings of vine, leaving Chloe feeling oddly deprived. Nadine pretended not to notice the look that passed over Chloe’s face and replaced the hat on her head.

“Ah,” she flashed Chloe a shit-eating grin, “much better.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and packed up her map, clearing her throat. “We just need to take the next right fork, then cross over to take a left fork, and we should be within view of the ruins. Hell, when we recover that treasure I’ll buy you a new hat with _my_ share.” She could still feel the spot where Nadine’s hand had rested on her back. The same spot, incidentally, that she had touched when shoving her into a pool of water back in India.

 

They approached the ruins from the north at dusk, crawling through underbrush and watching the chopper circling, its searchlight sweeping the structures and the surrounding jungle.

“If I had a bloody RPG right now I’d light that fucker up like Guy Fawkes Day,” Chloe said, handing over her binoculars to Nadine.

“I’m fresh out of those, unfortunately. So as fun as that would be to watch, we’ll have to dodge them for now. Looks like they’re taking the same pattern around the perimeter – see that broken aqueduct over there? It hasn’t been lit up at all yet. That looks like our best bet.” Nadine said, automatically taking point. 

“All right, let’s go.” Chloe took the rear, scanning their surroundings for trouble.

They moved through the underbrush, careful not to leave an obvious trail and watching out for patrols. They were about fifteen feet from the aqueduct entrance when they heard a rustling in the brush to their left. Nadine instinctively unholstered her pistol and turned to face the threat, pointing the gun towards the sound with one arm and pressing Chloe behind her with the other.

A capuchin monkey tumbled out of the bushes, landing with its butt in the air and head facing them, upside down. Nadine lowered the weapon, holstered it, and knelt, smiling. She fished out a handful of almonds from her pocket and held them out to the curious animal, putting a finger to her lips in a “keep quiet” gesture. The monkey reached for the proffered snack with trembling fingers, eyes wide with greed, and as soon as it snatched them from her hand a second monkey jumped on her back... and leapt off, taking her hat along with it.

“What the - hey!” Nadine exclaimed, grabbing at thin air for the monkey that was already out of her reach. Suddenly Chloe’s hand clamped around her wrist, pulling it back just as the chopper’s floodlight passed through the spot where her arm had been.

“Yikes! That was a close one.” Chloe said after they had ran half-crouched into the relative safety of the ancient aqueduct.

“It was stupid, is what it was. I almost got us seen.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, china. That monkey did you a favor.”

“Ja, don’t remind me. Little shits. Y’know, if I had to name those two, I’d call the first one Nate and other one Sam.”

“Oh, I am _so_ telling on you when we get back.”

 

As Chloe and Nadine were crawling, climbing, and creeping through the knee high fetid water that had collected in the ancient aqueduct, the thieving Drake brothers were swinging through the trees with their prize, bickering all the way. Below, a lone mercenary patrolled the jungle, nervously trying to light a cigarette with shaking fingers. Nadine Ross had a fearsome reputation and he had heard the fellas at camp speculating whether one of the competing treasure hunters was indeed her or not. He _really_ hoped not. One of the veterans had told him she had broken both of the boss’ legs back in the day.

One of the monkeys - Nate, probably - above him became distracted by a particularly juicy looking bug, only moments before its companion noticed the same. As they pounced and started fighting over the morsel, Nadine’s hat slipped from the grip of Sam’s preoccupied prehensile tail. Just as Sam gained the upper hand and started crunching into the beetle’s jeweled carapace, the hat bounced down through the canopy. It hit branches and leaves as it went, lightly tapping the soldier on the shoulder before coming to rest at his feet.

He panicked and spun around, firing his AK-47 back and forth blindly into the jungle. Sam and Nate disappeared into a higher level of the canopy for safety, all thought of hats and almonds and beetles completely forgotten.

A voice squawked over the mercenary’s walkie talkie and began jabbering in Russian.

[shots fired, shots fired! Michnev, do we have contact?]

Michnev stopped firing and shone his flashlight around, unable to see any sign of the interlopers or hear any returning fire.

[negative, false alarm.]

[then keep it in your pants, newbie! You tryna broadcast your location to the whole fucking jungle?]

[sorry sir, it won’t happen again, sir.]

Just then Michnev dropped his gaze to the ground at his feet, and noticed the hat. He picked it up and shook the leaves and dirt off it before placing it on his own head.

[sweet!]

Looking down again, he saw that in the spot where the hat had been laying was a bootprint. It looked to be a size 7 or so and was pointing in the opposite direction. He got back on the comms and radioed back to base camp.

[Michnev to base camp, copy?]

The voice on the other end seemed exasperated.

[go ahead, Michnev.]

[I’ve got eyes on a set of tracks heading southwest, in the direction of the old aqueduct. Whoever it is has small feet.]

There was a pause on the other end, and the voice changed as the mike was wrenched away from the dispatcher. Bolshov took over.

[that’s gotta be those two fucking thieves. Stand by, we’re sending men to your location.]

 

“So… Remember the last time we were in an aqueduct?”

They could see faint light up ahead, shimmering as it reflected off a body of water. The source of the light soon revealed itself to be a massive underground cistern with only a few inches of water remaining in it. Above, a mixture of moonlight and floodlights from the nearby mercenary camp filtered down through several openings for wells that had been choked with overgrown vegetation.  

“Unfortunately, I do. Probably the worst half hour of my life, waiting for you to either slip into a coma or wake up permanently brain damaged.” Nadine said almost absently, scanning the cistern with a strategic eye from within the tunnel. Quite a few pieces of cut stone had become dislodged from the walls and ceiling over the years and provided excellent cover, and above were hand holds and ledges that could be used to traverse the space without even touching the ground.

Chloe had been just about to hoist herself down into the cistern but paused to look back at Nadine. A wide grin lit up her face.

“That’s actually really sweet. Good thing I woke up just fine, eh?”

“Ja, I wouldn't rule out the brain damage just yet, Frazer." Nadine countered. Chloe punched her genially on the arm.

"Well, you can rule it out once I get us Kukulkan’s Gem. I won’t even call for help from those Drake boys either, that would be cheating."

“You mean the humans or the monkeys?”

Chloe’s laughing answer was drowned out by the sounds of shouting from above. A dozen or so men rappelled down into the cistern from the openings in the ceiling, and bootsteps and voices could be heard coming up the aqueduct tunnel behind them as well.

“Why is the ambush always in the bloody cistern?” Chloe groan-whispered.

“Just lucky I guess. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet, let’s use that,” Nadine replied.

They each climbed up onto the ledges that Nadine had spied earlier. Each pillar that held up the ceiling had arches running between it and its neighbors, creating a criss-crossing system of bridges for them to traverse just out of sight.

They waited above the tunnel opening, and on Nadine’s signal each jumped down onto the last two mercenaries to come through the opening, silently taking them out. They dragged the bodies up into the tunnel and relieved them of their grenades and ammunition. Calm and methodical, they took care of six more men in similar fashion before Chloe was caught in a lucky flashlight beam.

“Shit! We’re toast, china!” Chloe shouted, instinctively throwing up a hand to shield her eyes.

“Take cover!” Nadine leapt down at the man with the insanely bright flashlight and took him out with a Superman punch, then took her own advice and moved in a crouch to a chunk of broken masonry.

Bullets started flying up at Chloe, and she had to flatten herself against the stone arches to avoid being shot full of holes. Nadine had leaned around the edge of her refuge to take a few pot shots when she saw a certain mercenary named Michnev (not that she could have known that) wearing a rather familiar looking hat.

“Cover me!” she shouted and took a running leap without waiting for Chloe’s response. She executed a perfect flying drop kick, striking the man next to Michnev in the center of his chest with both feet. She twisted in the air and landed catlike on all fours. The mercenary remained on the floor gasping for air.

Michnev was so focused on the ceiling that Nadine’s wild kick startled him, and he was slow in bringing his gun to bear against her. She took it from him easily and popped him on the nose with the butt of the rifle.

“That’s. _My_. HAT!” She shouted at him, each word punctuated by a fist. Her last hit, a left hook to the gut, left him standing dazed and swaying. She whipped the hat from his head and pushed him over. He fell senseless to the floor, out cold.

Chloe was in a struggle of her own, having jumped down as well and not quite knocking out or killing the last soldier. He was on top of her, doing his best to push the barrel of a pistol towards Chloe’s face, while she endeavored to make him not do that.

Nadine took a running leap and rammed her knee directly into the side of his face, causing his head to turn unnaturally. There was a sickening crack and he went sprawling. Nadine turned back to Chloe and held out a hand; pulling her partner back to her feet.

“Thanks, china! I reckon I could kiss you right no- ugh that thing, _again_?” Chloe’s smile melted as she regarded Nadine’s thrice recovered hat with disdain.

“Some selfish dickhead I know once told me things always come in threes. Guess she was right.” Nadine grinned, “now what’s this I hear about you wanting to kiss me?”

Chloe walked up and leaned in close, intending to tease her a bit. Instead, she recoiled and wrinkled her nose as it was assailed by the combined smell of damp, monkey, and man sweat that now emanated from the hat.

“Nadine, that hat smells _awful._ ”

Nadine sniffed and recoiled herself, nearly raising her arm to toss it away altogether. She reconsidered at the last moment, deemed that annoying Chloe was worth the malodor, and carefully positioned it back on her head.

“I’ll get used to it.”

Chloe chuckled, filled her pockets with bullets, and slung a new rifle across her back. Ahead was a passage going out of the cistern’s north side. Or was it west? It was so hard to tell underground. She pulled out the compass. _Huh, right on the first guess. North it is_.  She pocketed the compass and headed to the opening without responding to Nadine, though she did take the opportunity to twist the hat round sideways on her way past.

 

“Hey, remember that time I saved your life just now? I’m up five-two on the score, if I recall correctly.” Nadine said, catching up after spending some time to gather fresh munitions of her own. Chloe was stopped at a massive stone door, covered in carvings and completely sealed.

“Consider it a running tab, love, not a competition,” she replied absently, running her hands over the relief carvings. Nadine smiled and changed gears, focusing on the puzzling door before them.

“These are Maya carvings. How d’you suppose they got in here? That stuff back there was all built by the conquistadors.” Nadine said, holding up a flashlight for Chloe to see with.

“I know, but these ruins are only half Spaniard. They added their own fortifications onto an existing Mayan complex. I’m betting that these doors belonged elsewhere, originally. Someone must have taken a fancy to them.”

“Hmph. Turns out cultural appropriation isn’t such a new invention after all.”

“Too right, love. They’ve been doing it since before Columbus. Now, this looks like a button. Care to do the honors?”

“This one’s all yours, sweetie.”

“Sweetie! That’s a new one. Better than Frazer, anyway.”

“Just push the damn button, Frazer.”

“…Sure it’s safe?”

Nadine rolled her eyes, reached across Chloe, and punched the stone button that was also a jaguar’s eye. “Treasure hunting isn’t a good gig for the risk-averse, remember?”  

“Touché.”

They stepped back as the doors grumbled and stones grated against each other. A deep rumbling below their feet signaled the presence of massive machinery as it kicked to life to open the door. Chloe could almost hear epic orchestral music swelling as the doors swung wide to reveal – nope, they ground to a halt after leaving a gap about twelve inches wide. The triumphant trumpets in her head petered out with discordant notes. _Oh bugger._

“Good thing I skipped breakfast today,” she said, smirking back at Nadine.

“You know, ancient engineering just isn’t what it used to be. In my day, they built these things to last.” Nadine smiled when Chloe choked back a snort, and held out her hand to take Chloe’s rifle.

Chloe handed it over, then set to work squeezing through the crack. When she’d gotten through she took the weapons that Nadine passed along and set them to the side, then went back for Nadine. They gripped hands as Chloe helped to tug Nadine’s slightly broader frame through.

 “Got any butter, china? I think we’re gonna need to grease you up a bit.” Chloe remarked as Nadine strained to squeeze herself past. She made it eventually, reluctantly letting go of Chloe’s hand and turning to face the dark.

“Sadly, I’m fresh out of butter, RPGs,” she said, ticking off the items on her fingers. She peered at the dwindling light on her flashlight, smacking it into her palm with zero success, “and batteries. The ones in this torch are done. I thought I packed extra…”

“Shhh. You hear that? Echoes. Don’t move...” Chloe snapped on her own flashlight and shone it around them, “Thanks for the batteries, by the way.” Nadine clipped hers back to her belt with a snort.

Not five feet from where they stood, a huge hole like the maw of an ancient monster opened into a black abyss. Stairs cut into the side circled the basin, retreating down into darkness that even the flashlight’s beam couldn’t reach.

“Oh please don’t tell me we have to –”

“Fancy a trip to Xibalba?” Chloe was already gathering her rope and grappling hook from her belt. Nadine grudgingly did the same. It always paid to be prepared when a seemingly solid step could suddenly crumble out from under your feet, and these steps looked like they’d been carved out of Swiss cheese.

They carefully circled down several hundred feet - several hundred feet below sea level, Nadine noted as she checked her gps – before the steps simply…ended. Chloe tottered on the edge for a moment until Nadine grabbed the back of her belt, yanking her back to safety.

“Whoo! Thanks! Guess it’s now or never, love,” Chloe said, already swinging her hook in a widening circle as she searched for a suitable surface to grapple it to. A dangling tree root caught her eye, and she let the hook fly. She was testing its grip before taking the plunge when Nadine spoke, voice nervous.

“Are you sure – are you _absolutely sure_ that the gem is down in that godforsaken hole?”

“Sure? Sure I’m sure.” Chloe coughed, realizing how very not-sure she sounded right then. She amended her statement.

“It’s got to be down here, all the clues point this way. And come on, what better place to hide a priceless treasure than a bottomless pit to the underworld?”

Nadine sighed in defeat. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

               

The pit turned out to be just short of bottomless, and rest of the climb was no further down than three-quarters of Chloe’s rope, a stroke of luck which Nadine fervently thanked whatever god ruled down here for. They landed on a pillar of solid stone that turned out to be the crown of a gigantic stone carving of a feathered serpent.

“Nadine, meet Kukulkan. Also known as Q’uq’umatz, or more commonly, Quetzalcoatl. Though there is some rather interesting scholarly debate on whether the three are indeed the same deity -”

“Looks a bit like a dragon.” Nadine interrupted.

“Uh, yes. Also a dragon. And the god of wind, and earthquakes, the bearer of the sun god… And you’re not interested in any of that.”

“You know how much I love listening to you wax archaeologic, but let’s save that for after we get the gem and get back above ground, ja?” Nadine uncapped a flare and held it up, looking for a glimmer of their treasure in the red glow.

“As always, the pragmatic half of the partnership. All right, you’re in for a real treat on the plane ride to Maui.” Chloe began to climb down the face of the statue they stood on, and dropped to the ground. She found a trough cut in the floor, which was brimming with a dark, sticky substance.

“Can we trade torches a moment, love?”

“Sure,” said Nadine, joining her on the floor and trading the flare for the flashlight. “What’s in Maui?”

Chloe knelt down and held the flare to the substance, which, just as she had suspected it would, took light immediately and flared around the cave, lighting torches along the wall and around the base of the statue.

“Sully and his annual holiday party. Despite neither of us sharing in the Christmas tradition, we’ve been cordially invited. Also he wouldn’t take no for an answer. But, you know, if you don’t want to go, I’m sure we can come up with an excu- Eureka! There it is. Look.” She pointed up at the mouth of the statue they had rappelled onto. Clutched in the feathered serpent’s pointed fangs was a massive chunk of carved jade, as big as Chloe’s head. It sort of looked like Chloe’s head too, Nadine noted. Or, at least, _a_ head.

“Kukulkan was often depicted with the head of a warrior protruding from his mouth. In K’iche’ culture – that’d be the ones who called him Q’uq’u’matz - the warrior was actually Hunahpu, the human avatar of the sun god Tohil, who Kukulkan carried across the sky in his jaws every day. Neat, isn’t it?” Chloe said, beaming.

“That thing must weigh a hundred pounds. And this gem lets Kukulkan control the wind?”

“Right you are. I see you’ve been reading the articles I sent you.” Chloe said, delighted.  

“Ja, I have… So, about the party… aka a Jew and a Hindu going undercover in the War on Christmas? I like it.”

“Y-you do?” Chloe asked, surprised that Nadine “Don’t Cross Ross” Ross would be into that sort of thing.

“Sure, why not? Sully’s good people. And don’t we have a bunch of trinkets and things we need to unload? He’s bound to know a few interested parties.”  

“Good thinking! Two birds, one gemstone. Okay. Cool! It’s a date. No it’s not. Or is it…?” Chloe trailed off awkwardly, in a minor panic at the prospect of attending a regular party with Nadine that didn’t also involve robbing the host blind. Nadine had the good sense to change the subject.

“Back to the issue at hand, how do we get the gem down? Can we just… grab it?”

“It’s probably not that simple, but just in case…” Chloe climbed back up the statue, put a hand on the gem, and tried to move it. It didn’t budge. She put both hands around it and braced her feet just below the snake’s chin, and pulled with all her might. Nadine waited below to catch her just in case it did dislodge and she fell.

“You’re gonna burn your ass off if you keep doing that.” Nadine said, eying the flames dancing just below Chloe’s position.

“And why should you care so deeply about my arse?”

“Because I’m the one who has to carry your ass out of here if you can’t walk, _domkop_.”

Chloe had no counterpoint to that logic, so she jumped down, landing outside the flames next to Nadine. She picked up her flashlight from where she’d left it and started wandering around the chamber, using it to get a better look at the relief carvings all around the wall, searching for clues.

“Y’know,” she said over her shoulder as she regarded a wall, “I think those doors were always there. The Spanish just built their fort around all this. The aqueduct and cistern in particular are much newer than the rest of the complex.”

The carving in front of her showed a pyramid, the exact one that could be seen from the air when they had flown in with Sully. Above it marched Kukulkan, carrying the sun god on his merry daily journey. The next one showed a dark pit where Kukulkan seemed to be resting, mouth empty, while the moon raced across the sky.

Nadine came up behind her to look at the carvings as well, and a sudden realization formed in her mind.

“Is there any time of the day where Kukulkan lets Hunahpu out of his jaws?” she said abruptly, making Chloe jump.

“Well, Hunahpu’s brother Xbalanque is the moon, so I imagine Kukulkan takes a bit of a rest when it’s Mr. Moon’s turn to reign the sky. It should be at its peak in,” she checked her watch, “about fifteen minutes.”

“I bet that’s when the serpent will release its jaws. Ja? We just sit here for fifteen minutes and see, and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll figure something else out.”

“Well, it’s not like we’re being chased by murderous mercenaries who think this gem will give them some sort of mystical power over all the winds of the earth or anything. We’ve got time!”

“Got any other suggestions?”

“…No. Let’s try your thing. Shall we wait at the top?”

 

At fourteen minutes and forty-three seconds, they heard two things. First, the echoes of a search party coming down the steps above. Second, a grinding sound of stone on stone issued forth from the statue. The jaw had begun to lower, and Chloe leaned over the edge of the serpent’s head on her belly while Nadine held onto her ankles. After some grunting and struggling, Chloe shouted for Nadine to pull her up.

“Fuck, this thing is heavy. It was all I could do to hang on to it. Thanks for doing all the hard work, china.” She handed off the jade head to Nadine and dusted her hands off.

“No problem. Now, how do we get out of here without getting shot and falling to our deaths?”

As if in answer, a passage opened at the base of the statue, going straight back into the rock wall it was carved from.

“Visualize your dreams,” Chloe said and dropped down to the floor, holding out her hands for the gem, “and they will come true.” Nadine finished stowing the gem in a deerskin bag she’d procured at a market before venturing into the jungle and lowered it down to Chloe using her grapple hook rope, then followed behind.

“All right, let’s bounce.” Chloe lashed the bundle around her body and positioned the gem on her back. She led the way through the escape passage as Nadine took up the rear.

The tunnel climbed at a blisteringly steep angle, and by the time they burst into open air, both of them were panting and sweating profusely. And creating new and interesting ways to curse in Afrikaans, in Nadine’s case. Though they had a head start on their pursuers, their shouts and thumping feet chased them all the way up. She rigged up a grenade to a trip wire at the exit, and they both hustled out of range just in time for the first man to come barreling out and set it off. The explosion rocked the tunnel and nearby trees, causing all the wildlife in a five hundred foot radius to take flight. Unfortunately it didn’t collapse the tunnel, but it did give them a chance to put more distance between the mercenaries and themselves.

“Oh, that definitely gave away our position,” Chloe said, watching the unmistakable silhouette of a quetzal bird disappear into the sky, which was now purple with the coming dawn. They ran on, managing to find cover in the woods about a hundred meters from where the mercenaries were keeping their transports.

“Ok here’s the plan: we steal one of their 4x4s, blow up the rest, and drive our soon to be fabulously wealthy arses back to civilization.” Chloe said as they sat with their backs to a fallen tree.

“Listen, about that… I really think we need to donate this to a Mayan museum. Here. In this country. Not a private collector,” Nadine ventured as she pulled the magazine from her gun and checked to see it was loaded.

“’It belongs in a museum?!’ Is this really the time to be going all Indiana Jones on me?” Chloe said incredulously as she mimicked Nadine’s actions with her rifle.

“Hey, you did the same thing with the tusk. Besides, the finder’s fee we negotiated from the Ministry of Culture in India was not an insignificant amount, even after splitting it three ways.”

“You mean two ways. You took half and Sam and I split the rest.”

“Well can you blame me? Tricking me into rescuing Sam Drake, of all people… and besides, I paid for the pizza.”

“Again, this is a discussion for another time, china. What do you say we – oh fuck!”

“At least buy a girl dinner first, Frazer.”

“No, I meant, ‘fuck’ as in ‘we are totally fucked right now because we were talking about money instead of running to the car.’ Look over there,” Chloe pointed to the pyramid where now they could see a group of mercenaries pouring out from behind the eastern side. The soldiers started taking up defensive positions around the vehicles.

“Oh, fuck,” Nadine agreed, chiding herself. “Just once, just _once_ in my life _,_ I’d like to do one single, solitary job that doesn’t have us getting into extended, lopsided firefights with sweaty men.”

“Today’s not your lucky day, china. I’m blaming the hat,” Chloe said and turned to brace her gun on the tree trunk. “I’ll cover you if you want to get up close and personal. Take your frustrations out on those most deserving.”

Nadine allowed a small smile to touch her lips. She nodded her assent to the plan and started moving stealthily through the trees, while Chloe opened fire.

 

_Several thousand rounds of ammunition later…_

 

They crouched behind the 4x4 they had chosen to make their escape in, which was not only the last vehicle not completely destroyed, but also had three flat tires thanks to all the flying bullets.

“Sniper! Get down!” Nadine grabbed Chloe by the back of her collar and yanked her back under cover. The bullet pinged harmlessly off the vehicle directly behind where her head had been.

“He’s in the vegetation on the pyramid somewhere. He’s a smart one, too, the fucker removed the laser sight so we couldn’t spot his position,” Nadine said, leaning on the 4x4 and peering up at the pyramid, but unable to see anything out of the ordinary. _Must be wearing a gilly suit._

Chloe didn’t respond. She was staring at Nadine, and Nadine could practically see the wheels spinning in her head.

“Give me your hat.”

“What? This is _really_ not the time, Frazer–”

“No, no, take my rifle, give me the hat. Fair trade. I have an idea. Trust me?”

Nadine narrowed her eyes, but gave her the hat and took the rifle in return. Chloe opened the door of the 4x4 and fished around in the cab with one arm until she found the tire iron. She balanced the hat on the end of it, and before she could explain herself Nadine had worked out her plan and was already one step ahead of her. She settled herself under the driver side mirror and positioned it so she could see the area where she suspected the sniper laid in wait. Pressing the butt of the rifle into her shoulder, she nodded to Chloe. Chloe carefully lifted the hat up over the edge of the 4x4, making it look like one of them was attempting to leave cover.

Two shots rang out in immediate succession, one from the sniper, and one from Nadine, who as soon as she spotted the muzzle flash had spun around, braced the rifle on the door of the 4x4, and pulled the trigger. The evidence of her excellent marksmanship toppled down off the side of the pyramid.

“Bingo! Nice shot!” Chloe held up the hat, which now had a smoking hole right through the center of the Shoreline logo. Her other hand went up for a high five, which Nadine happily obliged. Their relief was short-lived though, as the sound of chopper blades cutting the air approached from their rear.

“Ah, lovely, here’s the chopper! Late to the party, for once. Must be Bolshov.” Chloe said as they switched sides of the vehicle before the helicopter could open fire. Or worse, send a missile their way.

“Must have gotten sick of hearing us kill all his men over the radio,” Nadine theorized.

“Well, if you want something done right…” Chloe murmured.

Nadine was looking thoughtful as she regarded the helicopter.

“Let’s take it.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Let’s take it. The 4x4 is trashed, and so are all the rest of the vehicles.” Chloe stared at her.

“China, you just might be onto something. Or you’re completely out of your gourd. Hell, it worked with Orca’s helicopter. Sort of.”

“That’s the spirit, Frazer.”

The helicopter touched down, and Bolshov and another man jumped to the ground, weapons drawn.

[“Where the hell are all my men?”] He shouted. Nadine translated his statement for Chloe, who pointed enthusiastically at herself. _It was me, sorry bruh!_

They moved in a crouch as Bolshov walked amongst the carnage, too busy shouting and cursing in Russian to notice them.

“Need me to translate some more?” Nadine whispered.

“No, I think I get the gist.” Chloe said, and stopped at a broken statue within spitting distance of the still running helicopter. The pilot was inside, smoking a cigarette.

“It’s clear, go!” Nadine said, and they both ran and jumped onto the helicopter. They startled the pilot into dropping his lit cigarette in his lap, which quickly burned through his pants and into his crotch. While he was frantically slapping at his nether regions, Nadine knocked him out with a headlock and dragged him out of the seat. Chloe removed his headset and placed it over her own ears, then took the wheel. Nadine shoved him out the door just before they left the ground.”

“You sure you can fly this thing?” She shouted over the whirring of the blades, putting a spare headset over her own ears.

 “To quote your hero, Indiana Jones: fly, yes; land, no!” Chloe shouted back and yanked on the collective stick, raising them into the air. She punched the throttle, and soon they were flying into the dawn and away from a very angry Russian warlord, jumping and screaming and shooting his gun in the air.

Chloe set the helicopter down as gently as she could in an open field just outside the village they’d started off from. For Chloe the freshman helicopter pilot, “gently,” meant that she nearly crashed them into the single tree in the center of the field and bounced the skids off the ground three times before wrestling the controls into submission and hovering close enough to the ground that she just cut the motor. The chopper fell the last three feet and they leapt out, nearly getting blown over by the still turning rotors.

“That was absolutely terrifying. Remind me to make Sully give me some flying lessons.” Chloe said when they were safely away. One of the skids had cracked, leaving the helicopter to sit caddywampus where they had abandoned it, its rotors slowly swinging back and forth like four massive pendulums. They arrived in town and found a small truck that a local was selling for a moderately reasonable price, which became even more reasonable when it included tipping him off to the location of a very expensive piece of equipment sitting all alone in a nearby field. Chloe let Nadine handle the transaction and climbed into the driver’s side. She placed the gem in the middle of the bench style seat next to her and simply stared at the bundle in thought. Mind made up, she fixed Nadine with a dashing smile when she hopped into the passenger side with the keys in hand.

“So about that museum. Which one did you have in mind?”

 

They arrived outside of Sully’s building three days later, on Christmas Eve. It was a bracing sixty degrees, so they both wore the knit sweaters that Victor had somehow known to send to the hotel they were staying at. They had a long vacation planned ahead of them and their bank accounts were considerably heavier than they had been a week prior.

Nadine had been right about the museum’s substantial finder’s fee, and Chloe had been correct about the plane ride. She spent a third of their ten hour flight telling Nadine everything she knew about Aztec and Mayan mythology and every Latin American indigenous culture between the two, and another third was spent on Nadine’s exhaustive knowledge of the native fauna of Central America. The final third Nadine spent napping on Chloe’s shoulder while she alternated between dozing and reading a paperback she’d picked up in the airport.

Now they rode up seven stories in a steel box. As they walked up the hallway to his door, Chloe stopped Nadine and held out a small square package to her, hastily wrapped in brown paper and tied with a length of string.

“What’s this?” Nadine asked, holding it gingerly as if it were a bomb about to go off.

“Just a token of my appreciation. And maybe a teaspoon of apology. Hey, I know it’s late, but, uh, Happy Hanukkah.”

Nadine untied the bow and handed the string to Chloe. She found the seam and lifted it at the taped edge, careful to keep the wrappings intact.

“Blimey, you unwrap gifts like my grandmother.”

“ _Fokof_ , Frazer.” Nadine said, smiling as she pulled the last seam loose and revealed her gift. It was a small glass fronted shadowbox, and held inside in the same foul condition it had been in when she’d last seen it was the hat Chloe had seemed to hate so much. A tiny plaque read, “Third time’s the charm.”

“How in the world did you manage to get this made without me knowing? I figured you dropped that thing as soon as I took out the sniper.” Nadine held it out in front of her, marveling at it. Framing a dirty old hat seemed almost silly, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t perfect. It had saved their lives, after all.

“I thought about getting rid of it, but I knew as soon as I dropped it the damn thing would find its way back to you. There’s a framing shop about four blocks down from the hotel. Not everyone spends two hours every morning in the gym, you know.”

Before Chloe knew it, Nadine had surged forward and captured her lips in a kiss that had been chasing the two of them ever since India, and had finally caught up to them here.

“Thank you, Chloe. Sorry I didn’t get you anything.” Nadine said after they had broken apart.

“Honey, that kiss was all I wanted.” Chloe pulled Nadine to her this time, just as Sully opened the door, drink in hand and a cigar clamped in his teeth.

“You’re really gonna stand on my doorstep all night making out? You’ll scare off the other guests. Sweet Baby Jesus, I put the mistletoe on the balcony for a reason!” He eyed the red and yellow sweater Chloe had on, as well as the blue and white one gracing Nadine’s torso. “Ah, I see you got the sweaters I sent you. They look great!”

Chloe flipped him the bird without ending their kiss, and he eventually sighed, shook his head, and wandered back inside, leaving the door cracked. Nadine caught a glimpse of Sam Drake inside just as the cigarette dropped from his slack mouth onto his crotch, burning a hole through his jeans.

“Come on, _bokkie_. We’ve got a party to attend.” Nadine smiled into Chloe’s lips and took her hand.

 


End file.
